Planet-X Guerciotti frames?

dhope

My Boardman Team Carbon frame looks cracked. Maybe repairable but if not easily then I guess I'm in the market for a new frame. It's my first road bike so I'm not sure whether there's a particular geometry that suits me or if I prefer Carbon to Alu.
Looking at PX they have a couple of frames that seem to have huge (70%) discounts, particularly

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FRG ... rbon-frame
For £300 from £1000

and

http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FRG ... hips-frame
for £500 from £1350

They'll also throw in a carbon front fork for free if bought at the same time
http://www.planet-x-bikes.co.uk/i/q/FOG ... ck---700-c


Are the discounts realistic - anyone know whether the were ever £1000/£1350 frames or are they permanently discounted and the big % reduction is a bit of a red herring?

Also, any idea how it'd compare to the stock Boardman Carbon frame?
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/road/road_team_carbon.html
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... n-10-37560


Any insight much appreciated

dhope

Oh, and if not then any reasonably priced recommendations for a frame that'd suit the remaining BTC? Spec:

Frame Ultralight unidirectional T700 carbon fibre monocoque
Fork Ultralight carbon fibre monocoque
Headset FSA Orbit integrated cartridge bearing
Spacers Full carbon 4x5mm, 1x10mm
Stem Ritchey Comp OS 31.8mm
Handlebars Ritchey Comp OS 31.8mm
Seatpost Ritchey Comp 31.6mm
Saddle cboardman, Cro-Mo rails
Brakes R580
Shifters SRAM Rival 10 speed
Rear Mech SRAM Rival
Front Mech SRAM Rival
Cassette Shimano CS-5600 12-25T
Chain Shimano CN-5600
Chainset SRAM S350 compact 50x34T
Bottom Bracket SRAM GXP
Rims Ritchey Pro 20H front, 24H rear
Hubs Sealed bearings
Spokes Stainless steel double butted black
Tyres Continental Ultra Sport 700x23c
Pedals N/A
Weight* 17.6 lbs

Chip \'oyler

If your Boardman has a crack in it and it wasn't caused by you crashing or you damaging it then surely you should take the frame back for a replacement?

dhope

Chip \'oyler wrote:

If your Boardman has a crack in it and it wasn't caused by you crashing or you damaging it then surely you should take the frame back for a replacement?

lef

...claim off the drivers insurance?

dhope

oops

Buckled_Rims

Don't look at the discount price. Retailers wont usually be losing money by "discounting" at 70%. Do you honest think a retailer will buy a frame at, say, £1000 and sell it to the public at £300? Again, "throw in a free carbon fork! Who the hell eventually pays for the fork - the fairies?

Look at the quality of the frame and it's size. Then decide on the SELLING price, not the discounted price.

It's far easier to lose money then to find a genuine bargain.

dhope

Buckled_Rims wrote:

Don't look at the discount price. Retailers wont usually be losing money by "discounting" at 70%. Do you honest think a retailer will buy a frame at, say, £1000 and sell it to the public at £300? Again, "throw in a free carbon fork! Who the hell eventually pays for the fork - the fairies?

Look at the quality of the frame and it's size. Then decide on the SELLING price, not the discounted price.

It's far easier to lose money then to find a genuine bargain.

Next question, is it worth the £300 or £500. I'm really still the novice with all things biking (hence the C2W funded Boardman) so not sure what sort of frame the stock Boardman would compare to if I were buying one separately.

cougie

Dont you need to replace the bike with another boardman ? Its not your bike - its the employers - so the car driver needs to buy you a replacement Boardman ?

Alumin-Liam

Those discounts are legit - kind of....

The frames are all old models, mostly circa 2000-2004, and would have been sold at top prices then.

Frame technology has moved on a bit, and few manufacturers are producing good quality alu framesets nowadays - although there are some notable exceptions. Generally there isn't so much demand for aluminium frames, hence the low prices.

It is also worth checking out chain reaction for old frames at big discounts. Some nice Principia frames there.

If you are using the frame for day to day riding get a new carbon frame - Planet X or Ribble will do a frame for a similar price and it will be more comfortable. If you are racing some of the old alu frames are really stiff and fast so you might pick up a bargain.

daveplanetx

These are lovely frames , some are recent models from past 2-3 years , some are as old as 2000 . Theres a real classic columbus starship frame with inch steerer .

The frames really need to be seen in the flesh , they are almost retro , in a sort of big hair 1980s duran duran way - theyre classic whilst not full retro .

But make no mistake these were top end alloy frames and would still hold their own in performance , high end alloy frames from top alloy like deda U2 were the top frames of the era - mark lovatt won several of his tour of the peak victories on a deda U2 frame .

With the current price of full carbon frames ex China , the market for Italian made high end alloy frames (with carbon seatsyay / chainstay / full alloy) has disappeared .

Ride quality on these versus full carbon will probably be a lot more lively (or harsh depending on your perspective) .

These really are a connoisseurs bike frame , not for all , but one thng is certain they are a great price for what they are - and current trends mean you probably wont get this type of frame again , so its going to become a retro NOS classic

Anonymous

I'd love one but I'm too much of a fatty bum bum.

fleshtuxedo

My first proper road frame when I was a lad was a late 80s Guerciotti Columbus SL and I'd love one of the Androni replica Scuro RSs. Any chance of any deals nearer to the £900 odd for the same thing from Ribble?? The Ribble ones look absolutely minging by comparison....

gonzalez gomez

I've been looking at using my £1K cyclescheme allowance on a carbon ribble nero or gran fondo. However lurking in my spare room for the last 3 years has been an unused Guerciotti G45 frameset. At the time Fat birds were selling these for about £900 - £1000. I picked it up on ebay for £220! The frames are top quality ad will build into a nice bike they are made of columbus airplane tubing with columbus carbon carve fork and seat stays. Mine has been is semi built with FSA SLK carbon chainset (ISIS DRIVE) and seat post, fsa carbon pro bars and stem, Mavic brakes and Gipiemme wheels. I've now decided to finish building this one and use the cyclescheme voucher for a new mountain bike probably a cube ltd race.

Will post some photos

neeb

FleshTuxedo wrote:

My first proper road frame when I was a lad was a late 80s Guerciotti Columbus SL and I'd love one of the Androni replica Scuro RSs. Any chance of any deals nearer to the £900 odd for the same thing from Ribble?? The Ribble ones look absolutely minging by comparison....

I got my Scuro RS from Alpina Giro in Paris. They have a few quite nice paint schemes of their own and will do custom painting. It'll cost you a bit more than the Ribble (I think I paid the equivalent of about £1300 for mine with semi-custom paint scheme) but a lot less than the Guerciotti.

They are very friendly, speak good enough English for the purposes of ordering and will ship to other European countries.

http://www.alpinagiro.com/
http://www.alpinagiro.com/photo/art/gra ... 1.jpg?ibox

rokkala

Speaking about the Scuro RS frame, i think this is the best looking paintjob i've seen of it:

fleshtuxedo

neeb wrote:

FleshTuxedo wrote:

My first proper road frame when I was a lad was a late 80s Guerciotti Columbus SL and I'd love one of the Androni replica Scuro RSs. Any chance of any deals nearer to the £900 odd for the same thing from Ribble?? The Ribble ones look absolutely minging by comparison....

I got my Scuro RS from Alpina Giro in Paris. They have a few quite nice paint schemes of their own and will do custom painting. It'll cost you a bit more than the Ribble (I think I paid the equivalent of about £1300 for mine with semi-custom paint scheme) but a lot less than the Guerciotti.

They are very friendly, speak good enough English for the purposes of ordering and will ship to other European countries.

http://www.alpinagiro.com/
http://www.alpinagiro.com/photo/art/gra ... 1.jpg?ibox

Nice one neeb thanks for that I'll give them a look. 8)

fleshtuxedo

By chance, PX have just dropped the price on the team replica Guerciotti Scuro RSs by £500 to £1100.

I just bought the last medium androni one